Framed Memories
by Tess 4 5
Summary: This is a loose collection of independent short stories as the result of the mutual challenge Cats already has mentioned. A photo is the origin. Here's what I make of it. This is for our amusement but hopefully also yours.
1. The Ashes

**Author's usual notes and disclaimer:** I don't own any of the original characters nor the original Inspector Lynley Mysteries – they belong to Elizabeth George and the BBC. I have borrowed the characters from the TV-Show and solely own the ideas of _my_ stories and the developments _I've_ let them go through.

Please write a PM if I did something terribly wrong. Thanks!

Please read and review! More thanks!

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 **Summary:** This is a loose collection of independent short stories as the result of the mutual challenge Cats already has mentioned. A photo is the origin. Here's what I make of it. This is for our amusement but hopefully also yours.

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 **A/N:** Gosh, I know I should be working on Psycho, but since Cats had started (and I had wasted my first picture on a sportif story) here's my first answer to that challenge. Probably I also still have HIM in cricket dress (first photo) on my mind ;-)

Enjoy...

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 **The Ashes** (Framed Memories 1)

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"Hey, Dad! I've seen Mom's locker today." A juicily grinning fourteen year old boy in white clothes came to the man who was serving at the bar in the club house of the Casual Cricketer Club. "She's got a pin-up picture in it."

Tommy Lynley, the 8th Earl of Asherton, drying some wine glasses, looked at his son with a quizzical expression.

"Give me a beer and I'll tell you." the boy laughed and, knowing he would not get one, disappeared in the locker room to shower and change.

"No way, son." Tommy called after him and put away the last clear glass before he gave over the shift to Judy, the headmistress of Nanrunnel Primary School.

His Lordship's wife had had the idea to incorporate a Cricket Club for everybody on one of the unused meadows of their estate near Nanrunnel many years ago and they still played quite regularly and of course fulfilled the rotating duties in the club house. At the moment said wife entered the bar room with rosy cheeks and the shin pads still on.

"Barbara!" Tommy greeted her with a kiss. "You enjoyed yourself?"

The man at her side, William, a young local butcher with whom she had practised some bowls and catches, nodded at Tommy and greeted him with a short "Tom!"

"Wills!" always was Tommy's brief answer. Australians might understand that. And perhaps cricket and footy lovers. The men grinned at each other while he put an arm around her shoulders. "Wills, you haven't chased her too much, have you?"

"Tommy! I'm not even 55!" Barbara chastised him with a soft slap onto his chest with the heavy wicket-keeping gloves and waved good bye to Wills who left laughing.

* * *

Unashamed of publicity the Earl snaked his arms around his wife's waist and gave her another kiss on the lips. "Terry has told me you have pin-ups in your locker...?"

"I what?"

"You have a pin-up photo on the inner side of your locker."

"Oh, yes, yes... indeed..." Barbara laughed out loud while they went onto the veranda. Tommy pulled out a chair for her and then waited until she had settled down before he took his own seat.

"Barbara, you've got me intrigued, what's with that photo?" Tommy asked after he had ordered some still water and an orange juice. "Do you have a secret?" he conspiratorially added with a grin. "Or a secret lover?"

Before Barbara could answer a young girl with a little boy at her hand came at the table.

"What? A secret lover? Ma? Oh, bien sure, Pa..." After two years of French lessons at school she was giving the French words a go at the moment. She rolled her eyes. "As if..."

"But she has a pin-up in her locker, your brother has said." Tommy insisted.

"Ah, bollocks, Tommy! Hello you two. How was football?" Barbara smiled at their twelve year old daughter Katharine and their little accidental six year old baby boy Benjamin who climbed a chair on his own after rejecting his sister's help. Ignoring the other conversation and his mother's question he started to manly talk to Tommy about the things he had done on the football ground today. He was not much in cricket like the rest of the family though his father really hoped that one day he would join them in their team.

"A pin-up?" the girl asked with disbelief.

"Oh, Kats, don't believe everything men tell you." Her mother laughed and told her that there of course was no pin-up but a nice picture of an Earl lying on the bed, looking concentrated and slightly frowning. "Just a picture of Dad I've taken quite a while ago."

"What was he frowning at?"

"The Ashes. England was, well, not really good at that day."

Here Tommy, who was admiring his son's stories with the required attention, had to interject the women's conversation, saying that if someone said 'not really good' it usually was extremely understated.

"And why did you take a picture and above all why do you pin it into your locker door, Ma?"

"It's a nice picture, Kats. He's showing his bare chest." Barbara grinned openly in her husband's direction. "And though one can see that he's covered _I_ do know that he's naked under the sheets. It had been a hot summer night. And after-"

"Urgh! Mom, stop! I don't want to hear that!" Now Kats jumped up and quickly left. No, she did not want to hear anything that had something to do with her parents in bed. She waved back at her parents over her shoulder. "I'll drive to the beach café. See you at ten."

"You'll be home at eight, young lady!" Tommy called after her. Rocking his tired little son in his lap he asked Barbara where _her little rascal_ had gone to after cricket training.

" _Your son_ has his orchestra rehearsal this evening. _My little rascal_ would be playing bass or drums and not the clarinet." Answering Tommy's grin she added "I only hope Benji will do some proper stuff with his musical skills."

"Well, until now, and if he's not sleeping peacefully, he's playing the pot and pan drums quite good."

Tommy, carrying the meanwhile sleeping boy, and Barbara went to their family car and then drove home.

* * *

After dinner and after they finally had put every child at least behind its room's doors upstairs Lord and Lady Asherton went into the cosy study to watch some telly and have a quiet night cap.

Barbara cuddled under his arm and pulled her legs under herself and let Tommy zap through the channels. It had been an exhausting Sunday with the children being on summer holidays and today they had spent the entire day on the cricket ground and in the club house. Now she looked a bit forward to go to bed. She did not care at all what was on the box.

"Say, pet" Tommy broke the companionable silence. "I absolutely don't remember any photo of me watching cricket. And I can't recall that night properly."

"You refer to that pin-up again?" his wife sleepily mumbled into his chest.

He gave her a kiss onto her head. "I'm still curious."

Barbara sat up and put her arms around his chest. "If you promise you won't leave that spot here, I'll show you." she whispered into his ear. Smugly grinning she saw the hairs stand on his arms when she had nibbled at his earlobe. She stood and went out of the study. Returning into her husband's arms she held up her mobile.

"So it's not as old as I had thought?" he asked.

"Yes, it is, but every time I've got a new phone this... picture..." she tapped and wiped a bit on the screen. "...is the first... thing... I... transfer. Here!"

Tommy took the offered mobile and held it a bit away from his eyes. The picture shown was of him, the wall behind him looked like the wall in their former London house had for many years but it was painted long ago. His face was lit from the side, probably a bedside lamp, his hands were linked behind his head. His naked chest was barely covered with a white sheet and he was intensely watching something at the foot of his bed. There once stood a TV. Slowly he remembered that evening.

"Oh, I think I recall." he smiled. "We were newlyweds and in the afternoon, when we finally had some spare time throughout that... what was it? Anyway, some case... We had tried to make love." Tommy chuckled. "Three times we've become romantically involved but always got interrupted by our mobiles."

"Mhm." Barbara snuggled closer into his side. "Until a messenger had brought me some files. He almost had died seeing me in my nightgown."

"Yah, brilliant. He hadn't. I could have killed him."

"You bet. I clearly remember that at that point you finally had given up making love to me and turned on the telly to watch that poor appearance of the English cricket team."

"You've had curled up into a ball on that huge armchair." Tommy smiled and squeezed her shoulders. "With your heels on its edge and your chin on your knees, reading those files and making notes in a very funny position."

"In fact I was secretly watching you. You were totally engrossed and that frowning valley on your forehead was slowly deepening. I simply had to take that picture."

"They had one of their worst days."

"Anyway. I didn't care. I was beginning to feel very inappropriate things. You needed to be cheered up." Barbara grinned and tenderly scratched his thigh with her manicured nails. Her hair fell down when Tommy opened the clasp that had held it up during the day.

"Mh, I vaguely remember you were suddenly getting up, leaving your stuff on the ground where it had fallen to, and then crawled under the sheets too. You hadn't put on anything but that thin nightgown which you had discarded before slipping your skin onto mine." Tommy's hand went under Barbara's polo shirt tracing its way up to her chest with just his fingertips. "I almost hadn't noticed you had stripped for me."

"Oh, yes. And I vaguely remember that first you even had grumbled at me." Barbara tenderly bit his neck.

"I'm still sorry for that." Her husband gave her a soft kiss onto her lips.

"You've paid enough for it." she chuckled. "And the way your body had responded immediately was almost enough reward for the fact that your mind was not yet fully focussed on me."

Barbara's hand covered a certain area underneath his navel.

"Not immediately." he whispered with his lips behind her ear. "But your hands had made it quite clear what you've wanted."

"And what I've received." They exchanged a deep kiss.

"Unlike the score for England Benji was a wonderful result." They exchanged another long kiss melting into each other. "Barbara..." he whispered and pulled himself free.

"What are you up to?" she asked still lying defeated in the corner of the sofa where his kiss gently had pushed her.

"If you promise you won't leave that spot, I'll show you." he whispered into her ear, got up and locked the door of his study.

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 **A/N:** The TBC dots only indicate that the challenge continues. This story is over, this picture is described.


	2. Deep Blue

**A/N:** Here's another one. Enjoy...

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 **Deep Blue** (Framed Memories 2)

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"DI Lynley?"

"Huh?" Barbara ripped her eyes from the large deep blue poster on her wall and turned the chair to the new DC.

"Ma'am." Parton nodded a greeting and tossed a stuffed manila envelope on the desk. "Really, isn't this a tad too kitschy for an Inspector's office?" he grinned like only a twenty-something police officer could grin. Then he shrugged "Just saying..."

"This, my dear Constable," Barbara said with a very patient smile. "...is the reason why I am sitting here, you address me with DI Lynley and our department has become a lot more modern lately."

Her chin pointed towards the two touchscreen monitors in front of her.

"Ah, yes, I see." Parton had no clue. "I just wanted to bring that file, boss. No hurry."

Shaking his head he left the room. The DI could be weird sometimes.

* * *

Barbara swung her chair back to the picture and dialled the Commissioner's number. While she waited for him to answer her eyes dived into the blue water where the dark silhouettes of two sea horses intertwined their tails in a lovely copulating dance.

"Lynley." she heard his familiar voice.

"Same here."

"Darling. What a nice surprise so close to home time. What's up?"

"I just wanted to hear your voice. I was looking at the blue poster behind me and remembered a certain... case."

She could hear the smile in Tommy's chuckle. "Yah, I can remember it very well. It had been a hot day..."

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It was a hot day and while DS Havers and DI Lynley strolled through the zoo following a suspect pretending to be a couple they were closely watched by DC Nkata in the surveillance room. His eyes should have been on the monitor with the suspect but for what has he the help of the new candidate?

The couple out there was holding hands in the gorilla house, they ate ice-cream next to the lions, they gave the elephants some peanuts, they fed each other with chips and let their foreheads bump giggling when the suspect had come too close and seemed to eye them suspiciously. Tommy mimicked Sergey when they stood at the meerkats' corral and he told her about his first contact with a kea during some holidays on the other side of the globe. They laughed a lot and for any random onlooker they appeared like a normal couple. Barbara told him about an unlucky encounter with a rat on a barnyard in Devon when they entered the farmhouse area and she tried to show him how one could seduce a pig by scratching behind its ear with a stick. They cuddled the donkey and blushed when their hands met in the fur, but from then on they were holding hands constantly.

From then on Winston could not take his eyes off them.

* * *

When the suspect entered the aquarium house they had to follow him there. Tommy held the door open for Barbara and placed his hand in the small of her back guiding her through the double doored entrance. She was glad that he could not see her goose pimples. Inside it was dark as if they were under water. Leisurely Tommy placed his arm around her shoulder when they walked past the tanks and Barbara did not object. Instead she was enjoying it very much and since it was really dark nobody could see her blushing face.

Patiently she listened to his lectures about the aquarium he had had as a child. The suspect, always a few yards ahead of them, suddenly stopped and sat down on a bench in front of the huge shark tank. His followers had to stop too.

"Seahorse." Tommy read the brass sign. Two were in the tank. "Did you know that the male carries the seahorse's offspring? And that before breeding, seahorses may court for several days? They change their colours, they swim synchronised, they hold tails..."

Tommy looked down on Barbara with a soft smile and squeezed her shoulder.

"Sometimes they even grip the same strand of sea grass with their tails and wheel around in unison. This dance can last for hours until they let go of their anchors on the ground and drift upwards snout-to-snout. Look..."

Surprised that the seahorses in the tank before them were doing exactly this he went silent. The dark silhouettes slowly spiralled around, swam synchronised from one side to the other and nudged their sweet snouts in something like a kiss. The tail of one twirled with the other.

Barbara involuntarily sighed.

* * *

He was sure she would laugh him off if he would tell her that he enjoyed being so close to her and being allowed to take her in his arms. She probably was bored to death by his monologue. She surely just saw all this from a professional perspective and just had agreed on the whole thing because he was her friend. But now here in the dark with the slowly swimming copulating seahorses he wished he was more to her.

"Barbara, this is romantic." He pulled her even closer and Barbara leaned her head against his shoulder. She sighed again. His low voice always makes her shiver, no matter what kind of professional situation they were in. Lynley may be doing this for pretence but she was having a wonderful time with him so close.

"M-hm."

"We're supposed to look like a couple." His voice cracked. He had a brilliant idea how they would look even more like lovebirds although Barbara probably would fiercely object.

"I bet we do, Sir." She croaked. She knew how they could look even more like a couple but he probably never would do it. Although she fiercely wished he would.

And then he turned slightly so they were almost facing each other. His arm stayed on her shoulder. A crooked finger lifted her chin and she made another small turning step. They stood front to front and touching close.

Barbara straightened her back. Tommy bent his head.

"This is inspiring." he whispered. "I can't help it."

Barbara closed her eyes.

They were surrounded by a blue darkness. Nobody in the room cared that in front of the tank with the seahorses stood a man and a woman sharing their first, a long and tender kiss. It was a real kiss. It was not for show.

* * *

[CRRRCK] _"Finally!"_ [CRRRCK]

Through a haze she could hear the crackle in her earplug. They both had one. Reluctantly their lips parted but Tommy kept his arms around her waist and Barbara made no efforts to move away from his chest. Both breathed quick and deep.

[CRRRCK] _"What took you so long?"_ [CRRRCK]

Barbara's fingertips felt her kiss-swollen lips and she looked up at Tommy with wide but not unhappy eyes.

[CRRRCK] _"Congratulations, Barbara. Sir, it was about time."_ [CRRRCK]

"Winston!" she whispered with a nervous laugh. Nobody could see her blushing. Tommy fullbeamingly grinned.

[CRRRCK] _"Sorry to interrupt, but the legman has entered the building! He'll meet the seller in about two minutes. We're all in position, now it's up to you. Good luck."_ [CRRRCK]

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"Ready?" Tommy asked.

Barbara cleared her throat and nodded. "Let's go! ...Tommy."

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 **A/N:** The TBC dots only indicate that the challenge continues. This story is over, this picture is described. Actually this wasn't a picture but a short film.


	3. Jealous

**A/N:** A few days ago I saw another picture that triggered an idea. Here we go again. Enjoy...

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 **Jealous**

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"You're still feeling the sting of jealousy, aren't you?" From behind he moves close to his wife who is sitting in the big chair at the desk in his study. She looks up from the screen where it showed old pictures of her husband on a news site. "I'm not!" she grins and places the back of her head on the stomach behind her. Her hand strokes across her big belly. Little feet can be felt stinging kicks into her insides. "Not at all."

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They were alone in the office. Detective Sergeants Winston Nkata and Barbara Havers sat at their desks going through files and doing internet research. Unfortunately they were among those who had to work. Most of their colleagues were downstairs in the gym where a party was going on and like all other DIs their boss was there too. A few days ago he had taken part in a benefit walk initiated by the Met and had raised a huge amount of money for the Veterans Fund. Now all participants and of course the DIs in their role as the donation collectors were awarded. Claire Madsen, the right hand of Sir David Hillier, Assistant Commissioner, had organised it this year.

Barbara was staring at a picture of Claire with her boss. DI Tommy Lynley had enjoyed himself during the whole event. On this picture they stood at the starting point and Claire was just pinning his bib number onto his back. Barbara had stood behind the cordon together with family members and a few pressmen and had taken some pictures herself. One of the shots was her favourite. Lynley had spotted her and had waved his hand with a big grin.

She snorted. DI Lynley probably was downstairs and already happy in Claire's tentacles. On the day of the walk she had not kept her fingers off him whenever it was possible. During the first flower ceremony she even had given him a congratulating kiss inappropriately close to his lips. Putting her mobile aside Barbara diverted her internet research to some local news sites. There must be more pictures she thought and indeed found some. Even one a reporter had made from the same angle. Lynley surely had grinned into every lens that had been lined there.

Barbara snorted again.

"You're not jealous of Claire, are you?" Hearing Winnies voice right behind her Barbara jerked. Quickly she tried to grab her phone so he would not see that picture but the newly promoted Sergeant was quicker. He laughed. "There's absolutely no need for that, Barb. Just look at his eyes."

She blushed. After a while Winston held her own picture next to her monitor with Lynley's face to compare them. "No need at all. He's..." He turned his face towards his colleague. "You are aware of what's in his eyes, aren't you?"

"What do you mean?" Barbara frowned. She let her mobile slid back into her pocket.

"You're not seriously asking!" Winston gave an amused laugh and took her empty coffee mug. Leaving towards the small kitchen he added something for her to think about across his shoulder. "He loves you."

"No way!" Barbara murmured. Winston had heard her anyway.

* * *

DI Lynley felt slightly awkward. He was on an official event and usually he would have worn a suit. Only this time the DIs had been asked to appear in the Met's sporting gear. He had been given an oversized cheque for the fund and already had endured the obligatory press photos and the smalltalk with Hillier and his lot. Now they should mingle with their colleagues and the guests and more possible donators. After several more cheques - his title obviously was quite helpful concerning those matters - he had the most brilliant idea. At the improvised bar on the long side of the gym he ordered a bottle of champagne and two glasses. There was one woman he dearly wanted to celebrate with tonight. He had not seen her for a while and missed her at his arm.

* * *

After Winston had left the office to make some coffee Barbara had switched the first research site to the front. Winston was an idiot, she thought. Either he was not aware that she not only had a crush on their boss but had come to love him or he was aware of it. Anyway he was mocking her. She would bite off his head as soon as he would return. What took him so long, by the way? She switched back to the other window with Lynley's face. She would not find any link to one of London's flower shops anyway, she thought exasperated but then an idea suddenly came to her mind. There could be another hint in the bags of evidence so she got up and walked over to the table to rummage through the things.

The door opened.

"What took you so long?" Barbara asked without looking up. Porcellain clinked.

"What?" That was Lynley's confused voice. She blushed immediately.

"Oh, it's... umm... you... Sir." she stammered. "I thought it was Winnie bringing me coffee."

"Ah, he's returned from the witnesses?" If Barbara would not know it better there was disappointment in his voice. Waving the bottle and the glasses her boss smiled and walked over to her desk. "I thought this might be more enjoyable and you really should call it a day, Barbara. It's al-"

He cut himself off seeing his own face grinning from her monitor. "And here I am thinking you'd be working." he winked. It only made Barbara blush deeper.

"I've only paused for a minute or so, Sir." she tried to explain. "And-"

"She's been staring at your face for ten minutes, Sir." Winston appeared with two mugs of coffee.

"Winston!" Barbara cringed. "I wasn't!"

"I guess I should have brought three glasses." Unable to really suppress his disappointment Lynley managed a smile. He had expected to find Barbara alone. Winston should be somewhere else, interviewing some witnesses at their homes.

"No need for that, Sir. I've been called to Lafferty while I was in the kitchen." Winston gave Barbara a naughty grin which told her this was a lie. "Unfortunately I have to go now. See you tomorrow, Barb!" He turned a conspiratorial face towards DI Lynley. "You should see the pictures on her mobile."

"Winnie! Shut the f... ah, shut up!" Barbara glared at him. Laughing the young Sergeant left the office.

Meanwhile Lynley had filled the glasses with the bubbly liquid and now gave her one. "So, what is it that's on your mobile? Winston mentioned some pictures?"

* * *

He took place on her desk and gave her a warm smile. He looked gorgeous in that modern running suit, leisurely perched against the low table. Barbara watched his broad chest under the tight top. Across his flat belly she moved her eyes towards the toned thighs. He was not overly sporty but just that tad enough to be sexy. Barbara felt the heat in her face reaching a maximum. Quickly she downed two big sips of the cool beverage.

"Barbara?" Her eyes shot back up to his face. Amused wrinkles had appeared in the corners of his eyes. She realised that she still had not answered.

"Just the same stuff you can find online." She clicked on the X of the window with the news site.

"I hope you have taken some gorgeous pictures of me running across the Tower Bridge."

"Oh, yes, I have." she dreamily answered, beaming at him before realising it may look too revealing so she avoided his eyes again. "This was supposed to be a walk. Why did you run there?"

"Because I had to relieve Hillier of five hundred quid. He said he would donate that sum if I'd cross it in under five minutes. I guess he didn't think I am that fit."

"I didn't know that either, Sir."

"Well, I've done more workouts lately."

"Unmissable." Barbara mumbled and gave him a shy appreciative smile. Tommy straightened his back and proudly returned the grin.

"Well, what other pictures are there? Any with me changing into that themed T-shirt?"

Barbara cleared her throat. There were no pictures of that moment. Of course she had witnessed it but her hands suddenly had started to tremble and she had not at all been able to hold up her camera. Trying to sound casual she started to speak. "The usual ones. Pictures of you with Claire making a fuss in the starting area, pictures of you on the walk, pictures of you with Claire after the finish, you with Claire at the flower ceremony. It looks as if she's been at your side almost constantly. I still wonder that she hasn't walked the entire way with you."

Yes, Barbara knew she was jealous. Very much so.

"I'm glad she didn't. Those were the only few moments without her on that day. She's been rather annoy..." Lynley hesitated. He gave her a quizzical look, then his face started to beam with happiness. "Barbara! You're jealous!"

"I'm not!" Her answer came too quick and too loud. She gave him a defensively attacking mad glare but of course added the required "Sir." after a second.

When the door swung open they both jerked from staring into each other's eyes.

* * *

"Oh, here you are!" Hillier's adjutant came into the office. Her impossibly high heels clicked sharply through the otherwise quiet room. "Tommy, I've been searching for you. David wants you to be downstairs."

As soon as she stood next to Lynley, very close, too close for her liking, if Barbara was honest, Claire put her possessive hand on his upper arm again. It did not miss that she even managed to stroke it a bit before she acknowledged the Sergeant. "Havers."

"Ma'am." Barbara nodded. She stood on the other side of her boss who now loosely put his arm around her shoulders. It was rather confusing.

"And I wanted to be here with my partner." Lynley said moving a bit away from Claire thus making it impossible for her to keep her hand on his arm. He raised his glass. "Have a glass of champagne with her."

Barbara quickly downed the liquid to calm her nerves. "You should go back, Tommy. Raise more money for the fund. They obviously can't do that without you." The last part was a bit too sarcastic. Her eyes went to the ground.

Hearing Barbara calling her boss by his first name Claire's eyes narrowed. Tommy's eyes instead lit up.

"I still have some work to do anyway." his Sergeant mumbled.

"You see, Tommy?" The mention of work had raised hope for Claire to get that sporty man down to where they were celebrating. Turning to leave she already put her hand on his biceps again. Towards Barbara she showed a syrupy smile that did not at all cover her triumph. "Well then, Havers, we won't keep you from your tasks."

Only the DI was not giving her the pleasure to follow. "I just need a briefing, Claire. I'll be there in a bit. Tell Sir David I'll make it in under five minutes." He said it in a way that left no room for Claire to stay and wait for him without appearing disrespectful.

* * *

Barbara placed her empty glass on her desk. When the high heels could not be heard anymore Tommy also had finished his champagne and put the empty glass down next to a pile of files.

"I don't want to keep you from celebrating." She still could not really look into Tommy's eyes.

"There's nothing to celebrate down there which is more important than what we have to celebrate."

"And that is?" An uncertain tremble had sneaked into her voice.

"Well, let's start with you finally calling me by my given name." His smile could not have been broader. It made Barbara coyly smile in response and shrug. She had found it unexpectedly easy to call him Tommy. "Second, we have succeeded in sending Claire away to leave us alone. And third..."

He paused and pensively aligned the unruly files.

"Third?"

"You are jealous." Tommy looked up with a disarming grin. He saw her eyes nervously darting through the room.

"That's something to celebrate? Not that I am, but..."

"It's not the fact that you are jealous. The reason _why_ you're jealous is what we have to celebrate." Tommy fondly smiled at her but then added a rather insecure "I guess... Hope."

He watched her closely. If Barbara would look at him she would see the determination in his eyes. He was going to say something he might regret later. Barbara only chewed at her lower lip and kept her eyes elswhere in the office. "Ah?"

"Do you love me?" He moved a bit closer to Barbara and with his index finger he lifted her chin so she was facing him.

"What?" Her voice was weak now and Tommy clearly heard a 'How did you recognise?' in her words. He moved his hand to the side of her neck.

"It would be helpful." His voice turned lower. "Otherwise what I'll do now would become horribly embarrassing for me. And I _have_ to do this right now. Because recently I've realised that _I_ love _you_."

Talking too much Tommy bent down to Barbara's face and only paused for a brief moment. He gave her the opportunity to move away. She did not. Shortly before their lips met she sighed and they simultaneously closed their eyes.

They only kissed for two or three seconds. Eyes still closed, his hand still on her neck, they stood motionless in front of each other. Barbara could feel his breath on her lips and did not dare to move a muscle.

"I've wanted to do this for so long." Tommy breathed onto her lips.

"For more than ten years." Barbara whispered before they connected again.

* * *

This time their kiss was slightly longer. Involuntarily Barbara had closed the gap between their bodies and she leaned into his front while her hands took hold of his upper arms. While their lips moved against each other her hands slid upwards to his neck and further on to his nape. While he softly nudged her mouth open his left hand buried its fingers into the hair in the back of her head and his right arm encircled her until his hand landed in the small of her back. When her tongue started to search for his Tommy could not help but press her against himself.

A firework had been lit inside her body. Heat rushed through his veins. The hesitantly tender kiss turned into openly shown desire. Heavily panting they broke apart after his hands had started to knead her bumcheeks, her fingers dug into his shoulder and softly grabbed his hair and their hips instinctively had started to slowly rock.

"We shouldn't..." Tommy mumbled. He had a slightly red face.

"Yes. But not here!" Barbara murmured and blushed even more. His lips crashed on hers again.

Quietly the dark skinned man in the shadow at the door left the room. Winston had returned after he had seen Claire taking the lift upwards and he could very well imagine where she was going to. He had to save Barbara and Tommy. They had to be alone, he knew. So he had returned and entered the office in the same moment they had confessed how long they had waited for this and although the following scene definitely was not meant for his eyes he was not able to leave immediately. Only when things had turned even hotter he decided to leave without a sound.

"He's gone." Barbara said between kisses.

"Winston?" Tommy still could not get enough of her lips. "Mmmh... I thought... he'd never... mmmh... leave."

* * *

DI Lynley did not make it downstairs in less than five minutes. In fact he did not reappear at the event at all.

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	4. Lost and Found

**A/N:** Unexpected another picture conspiratorially inspired me recently. Well, enjoy...

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 **Lost and found** (Framed Memories 4) **  
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* * *

The five year old girl sits at the kitchen table quietly doing her first homework. She has to draw a picture of her family on the previous holidays. A notepad right next to her sheet of paper was tootling children's songs from the internet. The toddler though sits on the floor and wipes his clumsy little fingers across the screen of a slightly aged mobile phone. Putting a serious expression on his face he nods as if someone on the other end of the imagined line tells him something important. Teddy with an empty bowl in his lap seems not interested but when the little boy holds the mobile against Foggo's eye, the green and yellow stuffed frog listens closely.

His mother stands at the worktop and cuts some apples. Of course she has an eye on what the child on the floor does. She smiles and once again wonders how familiar these little people are today with modern electronic devices. When she was at the boy's age her family did not even have a landline telephone and her own mother, may she rest in well deserved peace, used to walk to the red phone box on the other side of the street when she had to call somebody. You rarely see those boxes nowadays.

* * *

"Mommy?" her son's voice shakes her out of her reverie. It has been rather quiet for a while.

"Yes, my darling?" she asks putting the knife on the plate. She kneels down next to the boy.

"Why'as the man no scarf?"

"A scarf?"

"There's snow on the picture."

She looks at the photo on the screen held out to her and laughs. "That's no snow, Georgie, that's only miserable quality of an old foto taken with an even older mobile than this. And the man is Daddy without a beard and a tad younger than now."

She has transferred this picture onto every new mobile phone she got and so it also was on the one she has sorted out and given her son to play with.

Dreamily she smiled. Her memories of the day when this picture was taken still are vivid.

* * *

 **...**

* * *

It was a cool day in summer. Earlier, very early in the morning to be precise, they had met in their office at New Scotland Yard to prepare for the day. DI Tommy Lynley and DS Barbara Havers had to arrest a suspect in his house near Piccadilly Circus and they expected a rather difficult operation. Uniform and two squad teams supported them. Or rather _they_ supported the squad teams who should enter the suspect's premises from the front and Lynley and Havers only stood near a minor back entrance where he surely would not try to exit according to the ground plans they had analysed. They both just were there to arrest the man after the others would have done the dirty work and then they would have a quick look over what they hoped to find inside. At least that was what they had planned.

When the team finally had entered the house from the other sides a door in the tiny back yard suddenly slammed open. The heads of the two detectives quickly turned around. For two shocked seconds the suspect stared at them. Surprised they stared back. They had watched over a different entrance and this was not the door they had expected to spit him out at all. In fact that was not a door they thought was connected to his rooms at all.

As quickly as the man had come out of one door as quickly he vanished behind another.

* * *

"Stop! Police!" Lynley barked and started to run after him.

"I'm going to kill Johnson." Barbara coughed on their way upstairs inside the other house. "Or whoever's responsible for gettin' the ground plans." she panted on some narrow stairs down.

They ran through two other houses and their back yards, down a crowded road, around a corner and down the other quiet side road and then across the jammed A3211 to the pier at the Victoria Embankment. They had of course no eyes for the beautiful architecture of Hungerford Bridge nor did they see the London Eye. They had to catch that man who was just running to the pier.

Since no ferry was there at the moment they thought they had him trapped but to their surprise he jumped off. A loud thud made it clear that he had not jumped into the water. There must be a small boat hidden from their view. While crossing the road unfortunately the suspect had more fortune than his pursuers and he had crossed it distinctively faster than Lynley and Havers. Now the man quickly unlocked the boat and just when Lynley arrived at the edge of the pier the roaring sound of the boat's engine could be heard.

"Bloody traffic!" Lynley cursed. Exhausted he put his hands on his knees and tried to catch his breath.

"I'll call Water Forces." Barbara called from a few yards behind him.

Lynley combed one hand through his hair while he looked after the leaving motor boat. "...Service." he almost automatically murmured.

Barbara ignored it as usual. Still running she pulled out her phone but on the slippery surface of the pier she tripped. The inevitable happened - the mobile phone slipped off her hands. She almost caught it, then almost caught it again, and then the last touch she gave it was a push with the tips of her fingers. In shock she followed it with her eyes as it flew into the dark water of the Thames.

Not even bubbles were seen where it had vanished.

* * *

Later that day Lynley and Havers were sitting at a table in a less frequented pub. Although it still was afternoon they each had a glass of beer already sitting between them on the rather sticky wood. They deserved it so much.

After chasing the suspect until he could escape on a small boat Lynley had called for support. The squad teams had finished clearing the suspect's house and two other men had been arrested there. The dramatic escape of their main suspect had found an even more spectacular end with the boat crashing into a bridge pillar. Now he was in hospital and their colleagues interviewed the other two men at New Scotland Yard. Chief Superintendent Ardery, in one of her nicer moments, had given her two 'sporty detectives' the rest of the day off.

Barbara had not cared about the ironic name. She still had been angry with herself about the loss of her mobile phone. All the way from the office to the car park and even in his car for a few hundred yards on the street on the way home she had ranted about her stupid clumsiness and how on earth she could have been so careless.

"It did not even have a camera, Barbara." her boss eventually had said. He had stopped at a red trafficlight and had turned his face to her. "It really is time anyway that you'd get yourself a new one. Maybe this time you'll pick a modern one without keys?" he had teased her with winking eyes. It had earned him a stuck out tongue by his Sergeant. "Come on, let's drive to the apple store."

Instead of turning left at the next junction he had turned his car into the street towards the shopping areas. Somewhere there they also could have a coffee, he had thought, or a beer.

"Are you crazy, Sir?" Barbara had protested. "I'm a Sergeant. I won't spend two months payment on a stupid i-phone."

"You don't have to buy an i-phone, Barbara. We'll just go to the next electrical shop and you can choose whatever phone you want. I'll buy..." Barbara had been sure Tommy had heard her sharply inhaling but before she had been able to object he went on. "I'll pay half of it. I benefit a lot from you having a mobile. You know, when I'd want to call you in the middle of the night perhaps. Or to send you messages consisting of silly emojis your old one wasn't able to display. Or send you stupid little films of cute cats."

"Oh, shut up." Barbara had mumbled but she already had been smiling.

For certain reasons she had opted for a simple smartphone in the end, with not the most recent techniques and qualities. Tommy actually had bought the phone for her.

"But only because I had to pay the costs of my car this month. You'll get your money back!" she had hissed outside the store.

* * *

Now they were sitting in the pub and already had downed half of their pints before Tommy became impatient. "Aren't you curious?" he asked.

Barbara grinned. "I was wondering when you'd finally say something, Sir. You were peering hard at my bag all the time."

She pulled out the small package. Laboriously she opened it and unpacked the phone.

"Barbara...!" Tommy said with a playfully warning undertone.

"Hm?" With infinite lonanimity Barbara put in the tiny SIM card. She gave him an innocent smile but he just cocked his head.

Together they went through the first settings and she typed in the first contact. When Tommy wanted to tell her his mobile number he learned that she knew it by heart. In awe he smiled at her and Barbara blushed.

"You weren't changing your number for so many years, Sir." she explained. She couldn't help but blush a bit more.

Since this new mobile was something completely different to her old one Tommy helped, or better perturbed constantly by explaining icons or trying to show her things on the screen. Accidentally their fingers brushed. Briefly the eyes of both darted up into the other's. When they brushed a second time Barbara looked a bit shocked but he did not seem to bother. Tommy just kept on smiling.

Their fingers kept on brushing until his hand covered hers for a moment. Barbara had to give him another shy look. From the look Tommy gave her she knew he had done it on purpose. To feel the warmth of his hand was extremely nice and he almost looked as if he was apologising that it felt so wonderful.

Eventually the apparently accidental touches turned into deliberate gentle strokes whenever Tommy showed her something new.

* * *

Then she suddenly withdrew her hands and leaned back. Barbara could not bear it any longer because the touches were too enjoyable and she did not know if she could prevent herself from trying to interlace her fingers with his. It had been too tempting. When she realised she missed the touch already she deeply blushed again.

Instead of sulking that she had retreated Tommy propped his chin on his hands and leaned onto the table. He leaned further towards Barbara with a content smile. It looked as if he also had enjoyed it very much and hoped she felt the same. She did. Although she still was blushing she answered his smile with a shy grin.

In fact Barbara loved the loving look he gave her. He had displayed that smile several times before and she knew it was his special smile for her. She never had seen him looking at other people like this and she had observed him a lot in the previous years. All these seconds he had smiled at her like this were locked in her heart and treasured dearly.

This time his smile was not just for a second. This time he kept looking at her and he held her gaze until she had to break the eye contact.

Browsing through the functions of her new smartphone Barbara finally found the icon for the camera. She lifted the phone and took a picture of him still sitting there with his special smile.

The loud noise of a faked camera clicking made her jerk. Tommy's grin grew broader.

"And now you can carry me in your pocket. I'm with you all the time."

"You're with me anyway." she murmured almost inaudible. To hide her face she quickly took a sip from her beer.

"Hm?"

"Nothing." Barbara's face turned rosy once more.

* * *

Then Tommy pulled his phone from the pocket of his trousers and showed her a picture on his own phone. It was her standing in the doorway to his office looking rather pensive. "See? Like you're with me."

They smiled at each other like good friends realising there was happening more between them - full of disbelief, excitement, cautiousness and anticipation all at the same time. For a while their eyes were locked. If he kept on drowning himself in her eyes like this Barbara knew that he would be able to see deep into her soul that she had laid bared before him. She was not in the mood to hide it like she usually did so he probably saw hope trying to override disappointment and surely also a huge amount of disillusion because all that was exactly what she felt right now. It did not bother her that he could see it all.

That was the moment when she admitted to herself that she truly loved him. She could not fight that feeling anymore and she did not want to anyway. A warm emotion washed over her and it made her smile almost invisibly more. Tommy's face changed just a tad but to her surprise Barbara recognised his look to be a deep affection. Deep affection he obviously felt for her. She almost could not believe it. Her face turned even redder and she had to avert his eyes. Coyly she fidgeted with her new mobile phone again but she could not stop a hopeful smile creeping into her face.

"You're with me anyway." he croaked. With wide eyes her head jerked up.

* * *

"Here's your fish'n'chips, my luv!" Out of the blue a meal had appeared before Barbara's eyes. A second was put before Tommy. "Aaand that's yours, honey. And there's your sauces... Anything else?"

Unfortunately the waitress bringing their dishes cut the magic connection and their early dinner prevented them from exploring that special moment further.

* * *

Later in the evening after dinner - which had become unexpectedly romantic - they had walked to the car park accidentally holding hands. Then he had brought her home but Barbara had not dared to invite him in if he would not ask. She could not know that in a way Tommy felt too intruding if he would ask. So he just had given her a peck on the cheek and left.

Actually it was a very soft and tender and quite long peck on the cheek. It pleasantly burnt on her skin for minutes. Unable to go straight to bed Barbara sat on her sofa in the half lit living room. She did not even turn on the telly, she simply replayed what had happened this afternoon and in the evening. It were quite nice memories. Then, ten minutes after she had closed the door behind him, she picked up her mobile. In that same second it chirped announcing a message.

It came from the only contact she had and it was a single emoji : a cocktail glass and a question mark.

 _What does it mean?_ she typed and hit the send button.

 _It means that I'm still outside your door and ask for a nightcap..._ came the reply only seconds later. Pressing her mobile against her chest and letting her head fall back against the cushions Barbara closed her eyes. She imagined that he had gone to his car at the kerb but had sat behind the steering wheel thinking for ten minutes. Maybe he also thought it had been a wonderful evening. Actually Barbara had not wanted him to go home. She wanted him to be with her. She wanted to tell him that she had realised that she loved him. She wanted to kiss him and she wanted him to kiss her. Properly on her lips. In fact she even had to suppress other thoughts about them in the dark of the night. Her heart raced and she finally got up.

* * *

Instead of giving him a reply message Barbara opened the door. "Come in." she quietly said with a smile.

Looking surprisingly nervous Tommy stood in the narrow hall while she closed the door. "Actually I just... Well, I didn't want to go home already and... I thought we..." He smiled apologising.

With a quizzcal expression Barbara cocked her head. Was he really trying to say what she thought he would? And since when was he so unconfident?

"I'd just love to have a nightcap after this wonderful evening." Tommy managed to complete a sentence. "Because I hope that this... well..."

"Yeah, I do hope the same, I suppose." Barbara said into the moment of silence that had filled the room. Then she told herself that this might be her only chance, a big desaster or the beginning of something gorgeous and so she pulled at his lapel until their faces were even. "Now shut up, Tommy."

When their lips gently touched it was the beginning of something really gorgeous.

* * *

 **.**

* * *

 **...**


End file.
